A man’s gift will make room for him

“A man’s gift will make room for him and give him access to great men.” -Proverbs 18:16

We live with the idea that we occupy a prepackaged world where all of the opportunities that will ever exist are already out there and our job is to find our place in that world.

The Jewish Proverb above challenges us to envision an expanding universe where the world literally creates space for the expression of our gifts when we act on them in Faith. It doesn’t say there will BE room for our gifts, but that our gifts will MAKE room. It doesn’t say we will DISCOVER opportunities for greatness, but that our creativity will MANIFEST the opportunities.

In other words, we are not here to compete with others over what already exists. We’re here to bring forth that which is yet to be. There is no room for you in this world and that’s a good thing. If there was, you’d be a waste of space because the whole point of your being here is to contribute to the expansion of the universe by adding your own uniqueness to the mix.

The notion of searching for our place in the world is based on the idea that we need to find some person or environment that gives us permission to be who we want to be. Many times we say we’re looking to find our niche when in reality we already know what our niche is and we’re just looking for evidence that things will work out if we act on what we already know.

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll give you my two cents on why I think this approach is problematic. I’ll tell you why I think the world of consensus opinion, market research, familial support, & historical precedent is an unreliable place to look when trying to figure out who you are and what you should do with your life.

I hope you’ll join me as I make yet another attempt at arguing for your possibilities.